Question for the mechanical keyboards crowd out there:

[fmarini@mastodon.social]

Question for the mechanical keyboards crowd out there:

any suggestion for a good, Mac -oriented, 75% exploded, good sounding, under €100/150 keyboard?

I’m currently rocking an Epomaker/Ajazz AK820 Pro w/ Ajazz Gift linear switches, and I like it, but Mac support is abysmal, and more importantly keeps getting disconnected by the USB C dock every time the MBP goes to sleep, which means I have to unplug and plug it again every time I wake the Mac.

Thanks!

#MechanicalKeyboard #Keyboard #Mac

[g@irrelephant.co]

@fmarini I had a very old Keychron (original K3) that had crap Bluetooth and I hated it. Shopped a lot and ended up with a new Keychron that has great Bluetooth. It’s an expensive Q1 but I wouldn’t be surprised if the recent K3 had as good Bluetooth, or some of their less expensive non slim options.

I’ve used the old crappy one over USB-C a lot due to previously mentioned Bluetooth issues and it was fine but a bit laggy back then.

[iamkonstantin@mastodon.social]

@fmarini What do you mean by "mac support"?
Mine is a Epomaker TH80 Pro and I got caps with the Mac buttons. I use it via bluetooth thought

[fmarini@mastodon.social]

@iamkonstantin mainly a way to have the command/option/control keys in the correct position. The AK820 Pro has a win/mac switch that takes care of it.

VIA/QMK support would be nice to have, too.

[fmarini@mastodon.social]

@g Q1 might be out of budget, though I keep hearing good things about it (and later/upgraded versions).

Just to be clear, I’m almost always using the keyboard over USB-C. Bluetooth is fine, though I prefer not to use it (battery, lag,…).

[fmarini@mastodon.social]

It just occurred to me that the problem could lie in the Sonnet Echo 11 TB dock to which the keyboard is connected, though. Hmm

I would definitely prefer not to have to bypass it though; having only one cable to connect/disconnect from the MBP is a huge plus.

[g@irrelephant.co]

@fmarini The Q1 has insanely low latency over BT (and USB-C) so I think any recent Keychron with similar electronics would do the trick

[tewha@appdot.net]

@fmarini Could verify it’s the problem with a direct connection though. Replacement “hub” type dock would probably break cheaper.

I wonder if you need a powered dock.

[alienghic@timeloop.cafe]

@fmarini

I've got one of the way more expensive ergo keyboards

but they've got mac specific keycaps on their less ergo and more affordable keyboards

Kinesis mWave Mechanical Keyboard | Windows Layout

A classic design reimagined for a more discerning typist with mechanical switches, backighting, full programmability, integrated keypad and much more.

Kinesis (kinesis-ergo.com)

[fmarini@mastodon.social]

@tewha yep, gonna try bypassing the dock and see how that goes.

Meanwhile I found out that Epomaker sells a $8 usb passthrough dongle that adds QMK/VIAL support to wired keyboards that lack it, interesting.

[tw000@infosec.exchange]

@fmarini If you can find one, the Azio Foqo Pro might work for your needs. It has excellent Mac support and is at least hotswap. Not really programmable and no QMK / Via support that I'm aware of. I'm honestly not sure how they'd get the Fn / Globe key and BT to work with it anyway.

FOQO Pro Wireless Hot-Swappable Keyboard

USER GUIDE /  SUPPORT / DISCLAIMERRevolutionize the way you work by programming customizable shortcuts, control media and backlight through the all-in-one control knob. The FOQO Pro is hot-swappable for full customization of your typing experience allowing you to swap out the switches with any MX switch of your choice.

AZIO Corporation (www.aziocorp.com)